Students and Faculty Facilitate Activism Through the Arts
Photo courtesy of nytimes.com
Powerful waves of artistic activism have resulted from the CO- VID-19 pandemic. From murals on the streets of New York City, to statues in parks, to posters in the hands of protestors, art has been and continues to be a crucial way to express activism.
Eight Black Lives Matter (BLM) murals have been painted across all five boroughs of New York City, inspired by the BLM street painting near the White House in Washington D.C. From a bird’s eye view, the murals are immediately eye-catching, but the intricacies of the political statements these murals make lie within the individual words and letters designed by the many NYC artists and volunteers. The letters each contain important messages such as timelines of historical injustices, representations of the Harlem community, and victims of police brutality, which all impact people who pass by them on a daily basis.
Artists have not only used more traditional forms of art to make statements, but have also begun to turn to new and more creative artistic media in hopes of captivating their audience. The Metronome, a clock located on the south end of Union Square, has been reworked by artists Gan Golan and Andrew Boyd and transformed into a count- down that depicts the amount of time Earth has until global warming effects will become irreversible.
Additionally, in response to the 100th anniversary of women being granted the right to vote in the United States, professional sculptor Meredith Bergman’s “Women’s Rights Pioneers” was installed in Central Park. The statue hon- ors women’s suffragists Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and is the first statue in Central Park to portray nonfictional women.
In addition to the art that has filled the walls and streets of NYC, the Projects in Contemporary Arts (PICA) class at Riverdale has provided the school with artwork responding to pressing current events, movements, and attitudes. PICA has served as one of the key channels for activism within the school. Mr. Nicky Enright, an art teacher at
Riverdale and the head of PICA, has played a crucial role in guid- ing students in his class to reflect on the art they see around them and the way in which the messages they portray impact them.
“One of the questions I ask my students when I first start is what is the last art you saw that made an impression. And when it was my turn to speak I said the last art I saw that made an impression was the BLM signs and protest signs and murals [...] and I think even a protest sign can still be considered street art. [...] It is visual art that is meant to have a purpose to the viewer and I think the purpose is to educate and raise awareness,” Mr. Enright said.
Junior Jada Grant agrees with Mr. Enright that the arts can have a significant impact on the viewer in ways that other forms of activism cannot. “I think art is something that you can’t really escape [...] because with art it’s kind of in your face, and the global warming clock is a good example of that because it’s a physical reminder of the effects that global warming is having,” Grant said. “I also think it’s important to have action behind them. So don’t just make the art but also support the change that will fix those issues like with global warming and Black Lives Matter.”
Grant additionally believes that PICA’s current piece on the 1619 Project, a project meant to reshape the way American history is viewed, was an impactful way of conveying activism through art on the walls of Riverdale. She explained that with all of the discussions about activism we have in class, there should be alternative ways the school can display those topics. “The 1619 project about slavery was a good way to convey activism through art because there’s a lot of different aspects to that project,” Grant said. “We learn so much about slavery in history, so it’s a different way of looking at it.”
In addition to the methods by which topics are covered in academic classes, Grant thinks River- dale should use art as a platform to respond to the current events of the world and to what is going on in the minds of students.
“I think it’s really important for the Riverdale community to recognize what’s happening around us, and I think Riverdale is an expressive school so it’s important that we put resources towards expressing that in art.”
Art-driven activism throughout New York City has certainly made an impact on the city and New Yorkers alike. As more of these murals, statues, and other forms of artistic statement occupy the streets of New York, they will continue to impact Riverdale students. Classes like PICA have already allowed students to express their own emotions and ideals through art. Hopefully this will inspire more classes and clubs at Riverdale to do the same, so more activist statements and artwork can be showcased around campus.